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Friday, July 6, 2012

In which Rabbit has an amazing audience.

I've coached several troupes, most of them at the local college. A couple of years ago, after a rocky show, I heard a troupe member complaining, "Well, that just wasn't a good audience." We'll call this troupe member Rabbit.

Dear Rabbit,

Do not complain about the
audience.

The audience does not control your show.

An audience can't
make a show good, and an audience can't ruin it.

At your small Christian college, the audience is especially gracious. That can be more harmful than
helpful, because sometimes they laugh just to be polite, and it's easy to become dazed by their laughter and lose focus.

The audience is full of your Friends-and-Relations, who are going to cheer for you no
matter what because they know you, Rabbit. They're on your side. They want to make you happy because you're a nice guy, and they want you to keep inviting them over for honey and tea.

You don't want the
audience to laugh and cheer just because you're Rabbit. You want them to
laugh and cheer because something they saw and heard resonated with
them.

If they don't laugh, it's not because there's something wrong with the
audience. They showed up, they paid a dollar, and that makes them an
amazing audience, Rabbit.

A real bad audience would be one that didn't plan on
seeing an improv show. They were sitting in a bar or a coffee shop,
trying to talk with their friends or do homework, and somehow an improv
show interrupted them. That's a bad audience, but it's not
their fault, because they didn't buy into this whole improv thing in the first place. (Theater is a lot like church in that way, but we can talk about that another time.)

One day you may look out into the audience and see not a single Friend-or-Relation, and that's ok. It might mean that you've gotten good enough that strangers want to watch.You may never have an audience as much on your side as your Friends-and-Relations are, so this is a time to play hard. You know they'll love you even if you fail, so there's no point holding back.

Big or small, loud or soft, familiar or strange, your audience is amazing. Make sure to say thank you.